In the early morning, on the stern of a huge fleet, the chubby Xu Keran stood for a long time looking at the fading Nanjing city.

This is not his habit.

At this time, he usually stayed in the cabin with his eyes closed and rested, so that his body could rest from the hard work before and after setting sail.

But today for some unknown reason, his upper and lower eyelids kept twitching, making him uneasy.

He thought about it for a long time, but still couldn't find anything wrong.

Until he reluctantly remembered Shi Ming, the only person who was not under his control.

Shi Ming only informed him that he would not go until evening yesterday. The reason was that he wanted to spend a few more days in Nanjing.

Xu Keran didn't believe this reason at all.

He knew that although Shi Ming liked to enjoy himself, he was also a person with strong self-discipline.

What's more, if you really want to play for a few more days, you will make arrangements in advance, and you can't change your mind just before departure.

However, in line with the principle of not asking questions that businessmen should not ask, Xu Keran simply adjusted the shipping plan and arranged new ships for Shi Ming and the remaining men he left behind.

But now, because of his twitching eyelids, Xu Keran began to be curious about why Shi Ming stayed for a few more days.

So he walked out of the cabin, came to the stern of the ship, and stared at Nanjing in the distance for a long time.

Ruan Dacheng? Or did Shi Ming cling to some new powerful person?

After thinking wildly for a long time, Xu Keran didn't understand what kind of trouble this could cause to him.

He is a businessman.

And the business is not limited to Shi Ming's family, Li Ping, Zuo Liangyu, including the generals under Zuo Liangyu, he does business with everyone, and he doesn't offend anyone, especially Li Ping, who is currently very prestigious, is his biggest customer.

Who Shi Ming plans to cling to has really little influence on him.

Besides, Xu Wenqi still protects his family's business.

When he was puzzled, a steward under Xu Keran came over and hesitantly expressed that he had something to report.

Xu Keran immediately had an unknown premonition.

This steward has been responsible for transporting Shi Ming's ships these days. They used their familiarity in Nanjing to directly take the Qinhuai River waterway to transport some of the things Shi Ming purchased from the city to the fleet in a more convenient way.

At the same time, some Shi Ming will also be sent to those prostitutes who are inconvenient to arrange for the many soldiers who escort Ruan Dacheng back to Nanjing to enter the city.

Originally, the steward did not need to participate in such a long-distance trade, but because the fleet was particularly large this time, Xu Keran, who lacked talents and trusted his subordinates, temporarily transferred him to the fleet.

"It was really strange that day. Only three boxes were transported in total. And after boarding the ship, the boxes were moved into the cabin without any trouble, and no one from us was allowed to get close. Even when we were moving on the river to the big ship,

They also rarely completely refused our boatman's help, and one of the boxes almost fell into the river.

And even though the younger one was also pushed to the stern to control the ship, he still heard clearly that there were continuous banging sounds coming from the box that almost fell into the river. There might be living things inside. At that time, Mr. Li was

He looked extremely nervous, and several boatmen and I pretended to be nonchalant to get him to relax."

"Xu is some kind of valuable item, and what if it's a living thing? We haven't seen anything weird before! Are you making a fuss?" Xu Keran expressed his opinion seriously and cautiously.

He can't judge anything based on these, let alone easily inquire about the customers and accuse them. There are many shady things in the business they do, and many times they have to learn to turn a blind eye, even if it's some adultery.

Something illegal.

But the steward glanced timidly at Tsui Hark and then changed the subject and said, "Did you know that Li Xiangjun, the oiran of Meixiang Tower, disappeared the other day?"

"I know! What's wrong?" Xu Keran was inexplicably surprised.

The three women are all celebrities, and the men behind them are also not simple. The sensational effect caused by the incident is naturally huge, and the speed of spreading is of course very fast. It is difficult for Xu Keran not to know about it.

The steward said quietly: "The three boxes were on a boat in the outer city, near Mochou Lake where it was rumored that Li Xiangjun disappeared. Moreover, it was going to be dark at that time, but Mr. Li still insisted on leaving the city and asked to do everything possible.

We have to leave the city, and if it weren’t for the officer on duty at Watergate who happened to be the one we know best, we almost wouldn’t have left.”

Xu Keran's face began to darken, and he looked at the steward with a stern look, but he did not interrupt or stop him from continuing.

So the manager continued to have the courage to say: "Three people are missing, and what happened to be on board were three boxes, and there were living things in them. Moreover, after the three people disappeared, they were still near the place where they disappeared. I also heard that Li

Isn’t it such a coincidence that the President went to Meixiang House every day a few days ago to accommodate Li Xiangjun?”

Xu Keran's expression finally changed suddenly, and he said in shock: "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I, I just thought of it this morning when I overheard someone saying that Mr. Li went to Meixianglou every day and that the ship that was transporting goods to Shi Guerrilla the night before suddenly had its guards inexplicably strengthened. I had been on the ship before, and I didn't think so.

I know that Mr. Li went to Meixiang Tower, but I didn’t pay much attention to Li Xiangjun’s disappearance.” The manager said weakly.

Xu Keran's eyelids no longer twitched this time. He only felt that his eyes were turning black, his head was buzzing, and then a large amount of cold sweat began to pour out of his body.

There are so many coincidences in this world!

He couldn't help but blurt out several swear words.

Fortunately, the experience of traveling around made him calm down quickly. He stared at the steward and said in a hoarse voice: "This matter is very important. You must not tell anyone, it will kill us all. Introduction

Let me think about it, we need to confirm it first, otherwise if there is a misunderstanding, the trouble will be huge."

But having said that, Xu Keran waited for the steward to leave and immediately went back to the cabin to write a letter, and then asked the closest people to get off the ship immediately and drive back to Nanjing to give it to the family owner.

No matter what Li Shengcai did, he undoubtedly left a lot of traces in his haste that are very easy to confuse. If Xu Keran's manager can relate to it, others will also be able to relate to it.

Xu Keran must wipe away all those traces immediately.

And it's obviously not too complicated. As long as the boatmen on the inland river boat at that time are controlled, everything will be solved.

But the prerequisite is that it must be done quickly and the boatmen must not be too quick to talk.

In the next two days, although Xu Keran looked leisurely and at ease on the surface, and even when he temporarily docked at the port to replenish water and food, he was too lazy to approach the ships that transported troops and goods to Shi Ming, but in fact he had already

I became an ant on a hot pot.

Xu Keran has become more and more certain that something is wrong with the medium-sized ship in the fleet.

The guards above are all Shi Ming's men.

But the boat is his, and so are the boatmen on it.

The number of guards and soldiers carried on that ship was abnormally small compared to the size of the ship. In other words, the ship should have been able to carry more soldiers to guard it, but it did not.

They also completely prohibited any other people from boarding the ship, including their own people.

If there are really any particularly important items up there, it would be reasonable to put them on the largest ship and send out more guards.

And according to Xu Keran's confidants, who were dispatched under the guise of routine inspections to inspect the condition of the ship and whether the ship's operations were in compliance, and secretly talked with the ship's workers, they also brought back some of the guards on the ship who were strangely required to go deep into the cabin during three meals a day.

It's so weird that I have to go to the cabin to have my meals and meals without any trouble, and then take out my feces and urine every night and dump them.

Therefore, Xu Keran was basically certain that there must be someone hiding on the boat, and there was a high probability that they were the three missing women.

Even if they are not the missing three girls, they must be invisible people who will bring them big trouble.

Xu Keran was not only anxious but also anxious, so worried that he almost stopped thinking about food and tea.

And as the fleet got closer and closer to the station of Shi Ming's army in Anqing, blisters appeared on the corners of Xu Keran's mouth.

But maybe it was God's blessing. The next day, the weather suddenly started to turn cloudy, and the clouds became darker and darker. In the evening, strong winds even began to blow, and they became more and more violent.

Several stewards and ship bosses asked Xu Keran for instructions to find a port or dock nearby to lower the sails for the night, but Xu Keran sternly refused on the grounds that General Li Ping was waiting impatiently and they could take advantage of the strong wind to speed up the voyage.

None of them knew that Xu Keran was ecstatic deep in his heart.

In the second half of the night, strong winds and heavy rain combined with thunder and lightning came unexpectedly. The water on the river was turbulent, and all the ships were swaying violently, especially those with full sails.

Just when the fleet finally decided to urgently find a suitable place to anchor, a serious chaos suddenly occurred on a ship. Then it was seen that the ship was drawing deeper and deeper. It was obvious that there was a leak and it could not be stopped.

Soon, some of the boatmen on the ship began to abandon the ship and jump into the river.

The officers and soldiers on the ship, who were mostly non-aquatic, were so frightened that they gathered in a mess on the deck and screamed.

Due to strong winds and heavy rain, other ships found it impossible to get close to the slowly sinking ship, making the rescue operation extremely difficult.

And most of the ships were guided away to prevent collisions from causing more disasters.

At the critical moment, a small boat ventured ashore to rescue the officers and soldiers on the sinking ship.

Although the ship unexpectedly held on for a long time before finally sinking, the officers and soldiers who survived the disaster could only feel grateful and happy, and of course they were in a daze for a long time.

A possible leader took advantage of the situation and murmured to the ferocious river: "Don't blame us. If you are discovered, the general will kill us no matter what the reason. This is good, at least you don't have to do it anymore."

You’ve suffered!”

Unfortunately, the leader didn't know that not long after they boarded the boat that rescued them, another boat came to the other side of the boat they were guarding, and then quickly used the sight of the boat to block it and disappeared, as if it had never appeared.

.

At this time, Xu Keran was also in a cabin on his ship, carefully looking at three wet and embarrassed women, and hesitantly shouted to one of them: "But Liu Yin Liu Ru is it?"

Liu Rushi's real name was Yang Ai, but later he changed his surname to Liu, his given name was Yin, and his courtesy name was Rushi.

With a look of shock on his face, Liu Rushi looked up in confusion at the rich middle-aged man in front of him. He looked familiar but couldn't remember where he had seen him before.

Although she didn't quite understand what happened, she also guessed that this rich middle-aged man and the person who was guarding them were not the same group. At least the gag in their mouths was pulled out and they were rescued at the beginning.

Then he was untied.

And the most important thing is that there is no malice in this man's eyes.

After receiving a positive answer, the rich middle-aged man slapped his forehead several times with a depressed look. However, he did not answer Liu Rushi's inquiry about his identity, nor did he ask about the identities of Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan. He just sighed and
To be continued...